Day of the condor — a tale of hope

With population pressures building and global climate change seeming more hopeless seemingly by the week, it’s a relief to sometimes examine an environmental success story. That of the California condor qualifies.

California condor — a face only an enviro could love?
Photo: U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service

Today is the 20th anniversary of the capture of the last wild condor, which was whisked away to the San Diego Wild Animal Park to participate in a captive-breeding program. It was five years later that the first two captive-bred condors were released back into the wild. Lloyd Kiff, head of the Condor Advisory Team and the guy who signed the papers allowing those captures, remembers the day this way in John Nielsen’s book Condor:

I didn’t want to be remembered for signing those papers. When I saw the birds take off, I thought, ‘OK, I’m off the hook.’

Today, more than 100 condors soar on thermals and another hundred-plus are in captivity. It looks like the condor might actually reconquer its old territory — and chicks have even fledged in the wild. Nielsen’s engaging book, which came out in paperback last month from Harper Perennial, is a good way to find out more. The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service’s condor site is a helpful online resource.